Previsualization and VR company The Third Floor provides a process to help create the fictional worlds that we know and love like that of the Marvel Cinematic Universe or "Game of Thrones." CEO Chris Edwards joined Cheddar News to discuss the way the company helps big-budget productions mitigate financial risk by developing massive or intricate visuals before a scene is even filmed. "It's all about iterating over and over again, actually using the technology to combine everyone's ideas all in one place, before the whole project gets too expensive," he said. "Filmmaking is super complex these days, so you need to break it into layers, figure out who's doing what, and it really empowers all of the traditional artisans and creators that are part of the filmmaking process."

Between Bells

The Third Floor Previsualization Helps Create Beloved Cinematic Universes

Welcome back to Between Bells everyone. Have you ever wondered how Hollywood gets massive worlds? Like Avengers? Dune game of Thrones? Just to name a few. Just right Hollywood visually visualization studio. Behind those huge blockbusters and shows we just mentioned specialize in pre visualization, essentially building out entire movies before their films to help seamlessly combine the digital and the real world for more on this. We're joined by chris Edwards, Ceo of the third floor chris Welcome to the show. I have to say we're really excited about this interview because this technology is so cool. Help us understand exactly it is that your company does well, I think I should explain why we are called the third floor because back in 2000 and two I had the crazy opportunity to go get the best job in the galaxy and work directly with George Lucas on Star Wars, episode three happened to be on the third floor of his skywalker ranch house and it was such a great time working with him hands on and forging a process that you mentioned called pre visualization which is really using computer graphics to prototype the movie in advance and allowing the filmmaker to explore ideas, collaborate with their chosen crew members and then communicate a very clear vision to everyone so that it can be more efficient film and more creatively inspired. That does sorry to interrupt. That does seem like the best job in the universe. Please continue. Oh yeah, so you know that was just the beginning, we felt like we had this really cool team and awesome process and we wanted to go down to Los Angeles where you know, that's the heart of the industry in Hollywood. So we formed our own company and ever since we've become the largest visual visualization studio in the world, working on so many different types of media, television shows, commercials, theme parks, games and of course the summer's blockbusters, I was just looking at the Game of Thrones visualization alongside with our viewers and it looks so awesome and chris you know better than I do these major blockbusters. That that is so cool because I remember this scene, it was such an iconic scene in the show, But we know these major blockbusters are so expensive to make infinity. War Avengers cost $316 million. So how does visually visually visualization de risk these high budget productions? Well, you know, it's all about iterating over and over again, actually using the technology to combine everyone's ideas all in one place, before the whole project gets too expensive. Right? You know, it's about taking, allowing the cream to rise to the top and um and having a very clear plan of execution, right? You know, filmmaking is super complex these days. So you need to break it into layers, figure out who's doing what and it really empowers all of the traditional artisans and creators that are part of the filmmaking process. Your company works with huge companies like you mentioned studios, I should say Disney netflix and amazon, just to mention a few and you guys actually computer generate a lot of the objects. Like we were saying for game of Thrones just now, what's the feedback you get from a lot of the actors as you create these worlds around them? Well, for the longest time, we were so behind the scenes, we never got to meet the actors, but these days occasionally we do get a chance to get some feedback from the actors that many have said that it's so helpful to put them in the mindset of what the film will actually be in the end because you know, filmmaking takes a while and it's, it might be a long time before they see the, the beautiful final visual effects. So to get a sense of how all the puzzle pieces are going to come together, this is so helpful to, for their acting process and to know, you know, not only where to look, but like what's coming up before and after their shots chris I have, I love my job, but you may have the coolest job on the planet. I am so envious of you guys. So let's talk about third floor, it's a visualization pipeline, not just for movies, but for animated content, like video games, theme park rides, VR A are content. So what is the future of your company? Third floor? Well, you know, it's about empowering the creators that we support with new technologies using VR A are and game engines to just really put the power in their hands. You seeing some of those clips, like apps that we've created, like cyclops, this one right here where you can actually see the digital graphics live inside the real environment. So this works great for location scouts to be able to really see whether that creature or that design is going to work within your space. And this is also used by production designers and all kinds of professionals to look at their designs in context with the real world. And so that's just the beginning because of course the next step is to go onto a set and use all these graphics live in real time with the power of the game engine, like the Unreal engine empowering things like Mandalorian and other shows to surround the actors in an LED volume. So literally transporting them to the hollow deck if you will right um surrounding them in the light of of a virtual environment. And this is really making the whole process of filmmaking so much more creatively freeing because there really are no limitations now and this is so important during the pandemic, right? Because no one could travel. Um it was really hard to even virtually collaborate and now with these technologies filmmakers are being like unleashed to do whatever they want chris do you have because I'm watching all these movies that you mentioned and shows and I love every single one of them. They're blockbusters, Their iconic, do you have a favorite? And I also want to ask which was maybe one of the more challenging projects your company had to take on well recently and it's still in theaters is uh is Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness? And we just had, it was just such a perfect film for us to be able to uh really try out those transitions and work with the filmmakers as they explored the different ideas between um seamless shots that would get you between reality. And so that was one of the most challenging ones recently. And you know, we have a lot coming up next. So, you know, just wait uh, you know, to your streaming networks and go out to the theater to see what's coming up next because I think we're going to blow your socks off together. Can you give us a hint of what we can expect next? Anything at all? We'll take it chris well, you know, for all mankind, season three is coming up, that's gonna blow some people's minds of thor love and Thunder is always, you know, it's going to be good with Taika Waititi, you know, like uh huh. And um, and we're just so so honored to work on all this marvel content and for all of our, all of our clients to give us the chance to really work with this creative community and just just, you know, feed off of that level of enthusiasm for me, it's a dream come true, it seems like the dream job, is it very common for big budget films to do this, is this just part of the normal process? You know, about 20 years ago, it was completely unknown. So that was my mission is to try to educate the community and to say, Hey, we're here to help. There's um, you don't have to use viz, but many filmmakers have used it sparingly and in different areas to explore their ideas and make sure that they're really confident before they go on set. And um, and I think that the use cases proliferated. So as you said, uh, in many cases the entire film is visualized multiple times over like literally thousands and thousands of shots tried out. So it's kind of like, you know, in a classic filmmaking where the whole process of happy accidents, you have to go out there and just be vigilant and look for those happy accidents, there's opportunities to enhance your film and now that process can happen so much earlier in production and is a continuous sculpture that we're all building together, right? You know, representing all those creative ideas and those technical challenges all in one place to produce the best quality media ever. You have so much insight about shows and movies that are coming out shows and movies that a lot of us are dying to see and watch, Is it hard to keep the secrets of storylines or plotlines? I imagine it would be. Yeah. You know, not only is it hard just to contain our enthusiasm for this, but it's hard to keep these secrets very secure because you know of course on our servers we have data that will reveal all the secrets, right for so many studios as we work for them all. So you know I. T. Security and the discrete nous with which we conduct ourselves is so key. And um we built up a level of trust with the individual filmmakers and the studios uh to be able to keep those assets very safe and sound and you know I just really thank them for the faith that they put in our team. Well I will be thinking of your company every time I see one of these movies chris Edwards Ceo of the third floor. Thank you so much for your time. This was so fun. Thank you